2006 – Nine Bullets

5 bands I am most happy to have found:

Every year around this time I start to wonder what new bands and music I will stumble upon in the next year. I decided to list the 5 bands I was most happy to discover in 2006. And by most happy I mean they got the most playing time in the iPod and CD players in the Autopsy household.
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Drag The River
I posted an apology to these guys earlier in the year for ignoring them because of their name. I finally got to see them live a few weeks ago and it was as good as I’d hoped they’d be. Rockin’ barroom anthems with a blended form of alt.country/rock these fellas deserve your attention. Remember a few years ago when you were watching Lucero with 50-75 other people. Come see DTR while they are still your band cuz these fellas are gonna be playing bigger and bigger venues.

Drag the River – The Cause and the Cure
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Backyard Tire Fire
I was pointed to Backyard Tire Fire via Aquarium Drunkyard. Mixing blues, country, rock, funk, and blue-collar song writing BYTF will remind you of everyone from The Drive-By Truckers to Whiskeytown to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Perfect for a lazy day in the porch swing with a cold beer and the dog, Bar Room Semantics has gotten a lot of playing time at my compound. They have a new CD entitled Vagabonds and Hooligans scheduled to be released on January 30, 2007.

Backyard Tire Fire – Trying to get Paid
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O’Death
Pitchfork hates them and thats always a good sign. I have a bootleg live DVD of these fellas and I watch it monthly probably. Freaky Appalachian mountain music from Brooklyn.how can you go wrong? You cant.thats how. Hopefully 2007 will see these guys get signed.

O’Death – Only Daughter
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William Elliot Whitmore
A 20 something tattooed white boy with the voice and soul of a black blues man of the 30s. His deep grizzled voice is usually only accompanied by a banjo or guitar with the occasional track having a drummer on it. His newest CD Songs of the Blackbird is a concept album telling the story of an early century plainsman in the midst of a drought waiting and hoping for the rains and questioning his faith in the process. Hopefully, sometime in 2007 Mr. Whitmore will find himself in Florida.
William Elliot Whitmore – One Man’s Shame
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Wolfmother
What? Okay, Wolfmother isn’t gonna cut some new path through the 70’s era rock and roll sound…..So. fucking. what. They’re fun. Seriously, isn’t that what music is supposed to be about. Having a good time. Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll. Damn it. This was my party record of 2006 @ 80 mph with the windows down and singing poorly but loudly….air guitar at the traffic lights and if you can’t get with that then I dunno what to say. Go back to your designer Martini bar and stare at yourself in the mirror.
Wolfmother – Apple Tree
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And one more makes six:

The Diviners
These guys are a local band that I finally got around to seeing them open for Lucero at the very beginning of the year. I wanted to add them to this list because they reminded me that there is a large base of talent locally banging out songs in smoky bars every night and that I needed to get out and get familiar with them. 2007 will see ninebullets.net add a bi-monthly local music feature. So, check out The Diviners on myspace and on their official site .
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And that’s all folks. Try and stay safe and avoid the DUI. I’ll be back on January 3rd.

Random cd cover observation:

When I first saw the SAOSIN cover in Vinyl Fever I knew it looked familiar but I could not place where I had seen it before:

The Pitchfork posted a review of a cd by an artist named Josef K and I knew immediately where I recognized both it and the SAOSIN cover from:
Josef

They remind me of some X-Marks the Pedwalk albums I used to have:
X-Marks

Not exact matches but it was enough to remind me of X-Marks. I’ll bet I have not thought about or listened to those guys in 5 years. Wiki says they released a greatest hits in 1998. I think I might pick it up.

X-Marks the Pedwalk – Facer

Remembering Guns N' Roses – Appetite for Destruction

The other night I Tivo’ed “When Metal Ruled The World” off VH1 and watched it over the weekend. I don’t think anyone has actually forgotten about Appetite so perhaps this is more of a “raving about Appetite” post.

It’s hard to believe Appetite will turn 20 years old in ’07. After 19 years, the album is still relevant. Interestingly, while Appetite has sold over 15 million copies, and is an RIAA Certified Diamond album, it was a slow starter, selling only 500,000 copies in it’s first year. Also, while the album credits the entire band for songwriting, the truth is many songs were written by Duff McKagan before the formation of Guns N’ Roses. The album continually appears in magazine and television shows “greatest rock albums ever” and “greatest albums of all time” lists. Appetite has withstood the test of time better than any record from the hair metal era. While GnR is always associated with hair metal, I think it’s just bad timing. While the hair and glam bands were pumping out power ballads and pop rock, GnR came upon the scene with a grittier and heavier version of rock. Sadly, Appetite was the peak of GnR, and swelling heads led to the Use Your Illusion disasters and the eventual demise of a great band. So, raise your rock fist, make a devil horn, and pump that bitch to some classic GnR.

Guns and Roses – Welcome to the Jungle
Guns and Roses – Nightrain
Guns and Roses – My Michelle
Guns and Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine

Guns and Roses on Wiki, Buy Appetite for Destruction

Now we have Axl fronting the most talked about cover band of all time, and Chinese Democracy is slated to come out in March of 2007. Slash and Duff are in Velvet Revolver and are currently recording the follow-up to their disappointing debut. Any hopes for a reunion are routinely put to rest by the band members.

As quoted from wiki:

Guns N’ Roses will be eligible for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame beginning in 2012. Critics and fans alike view this as an opportunity for the band’s original lineup to reunite. On the VH1 special Behind the Music, Slash was questioned about a reunion and stated that “No matter how much money they throw in our faces, there’s no reason for us to get together…unless there’s a mutual respect or understanding…and we’re way far from that.”

I saw them twice before the implosion. Once prior to Use Your Illusion and once post when they were on tour with Metallica and Soundgarden. They were balls out and freaking awesome the first time, and the second time got blown off the stage by Soundgarden and Metallica. I am glad I got to see them though.

So, I raise a glass to Appetite! Awesomeness to spare.

VICTORY!

If I remember 8th grade Algebra postulates correctly (doubtful) then the property of equality states: if a = b and b = c, then a = c. To extrapolate that to last night:

UCLA beat USC: 13-9
FSU beat UCLA: 44-27
therefore: FSU is better than USC

okay, it doesn’t really work like that but at least we got a descent ending to an otherwise crap year and now Jeffery is gone, Billy Sexton has quit and more changes are coming. Will it equal success in 2007? Who knows, but things could not continue as they were.

So, here is to another season in the books. Hopefully, The Ohio State University will kick the crap outta Urban Cryer’s Gators on the 8th and my season will end in success.

International Mix Tape Project – December 2006

My intent here at ninebullets is to review the Cd’s I get every month from the IMTP. Well, the CD I got last month was the poo-poo so here’s to hoping this month’s is better. It was way down tempo instrumentals and a few sleepers with a foreign singer. Needless to say, it only got one pass in the car and went straight to the garbage can. Undeterred, we are back with the December mix. I decided to use December as a chance to put together a collection of drinking songs since so much drinking tends to happen with all the parties. I got a little ambitious with the mix and assembled the songs so a story would unfold following the ebb and flow of a night out doing some heavy drinking. I’ll stop shy of calling it a ringing success but the backbone of the story is there. So, like last month I will offer up a copy of this mix to anyone who happens to want it. The first 5 people to email me their mailing address will get a copy….free….and trust me, it is worth the money.

Track listing below the cut.
Continue reading “International Mix Tape Project – December 2006”

Merry Christmas

Naked Santa

Flashback Friday: Produkt13

Okay, you don’t remember P13. As a matter of a fact, you’ve never heard of P13. Produkt13 was me and my bud Mike. Earlier in the week I was going through some old Cd’s in the computer room and came across a few mp3s of our songs, so I decided to post them here. These songs offer a little light into why I don’t post bad reviews, and why I try not to be snarky or mean. See, Mike and I recorded these tracks in 1999 and 2000 on a Gateway Pentium Pro 200 with a pirated version of Cakewalk, Soundforge, and Fruity Loops. We learned how to record and mix on the fly and spent a lot of time writing and recording. In the end we did the best we could, and had a good time doing it…in all honesty, it turns out it wasn’t that good but I’m still proud of it. So, here are the tracks:

P13 – Fatal Vision
P13 – Machines
P13 – Superstar (psychotic mix)

Produkt13 self-released an EP “Armed Digital Resistance” and a full-length CD “Battered City Syndrome” over the course of 2 years. We also appeared on a collection of compilations for Arts Industria, Base Asylum, and DSBP Records . It was a great time.

looking for something to do tonight?

Tonight…at The Emerald Bar.

Joey’s 30th birthday with Nessie, The Weapons of Ass Destruction, Rob Coe and the Diviners
Cost : $4.00

Show is supposed to start at nine and if you know The Emerald that means it will start at ten but I have it on good authority that they are trying to get going at 9:30 at the very latest.

The Diviners are worth four dollars alone. I have never seen any of the other bands but after a quick run through the myspace sites I am really looking forward to seeing Nessie. So come out and support local music….while you are at it buy me a drink. I’m kidding. Sorta. I mean, I’ll take it if you hand it to me. Order of the bands:

Rob Coe (acoustic)
The Diviners
Nessie
The Weapons of Ass Destruction

See you at the rock show!

Jurassic 5 & Dilated Peoples

After writing about the Cunninlynguists CD the other day I’ve had this nagging feeling I should mention a couple other Cd’s that were awesome and completely ignored. So, while these are not better than A Piece of Strange, if I was making a top 5 I’d have a hard time listing which was number 2….but, I would eventually settle on Jurassic 5 – Feedback so I’ll start there.

Jurassic 5 – Feedback

After a 4 year silence J5 dropped Feedback on us back in July. The album features J5’s token rapid fire back and forth vocal deliveries and those old school feelin’ beats are still in place despite the departure of Cut Chemist. This CD also came with a nod to the future. Feedback is definitely J5’s most pop-oriented album yet with the collaboration of Dave Mathews and Scott Storch. While some long-time J5 fans might find themselves put off by the new sound there is still plenty to keep their heads bobbing. Might I also add that the J5 show in St. Pete this year was without a doubt the best hip-hop show I saw and one of the 5 best shows I saw for 2006. Those guys were tighter than a nun. So check out Feedback. Every time I listen to it I find myself thinking that I need to listen to it once a week.

Jurassic 5 – Gotta Understand
Jurassic 5 – In the House
Jurassic 5 – Where We At

J5 Official Site, J5 myspace, Buy J5 cds

Dilated Peoples – 20/20

How. in. the. fuck. are these guys not huge? The moment lead single Back Again kicked with Back again kinda like Bush & Blair, some were scared, some just wished they cared they had me hook line and sinker. My favorite track off the CD has to be Kindness for Weakness which tells the tale of friends who betray. Evidence is undoubtedly one of my favorite rappers our there…second only to Gift of Gab possibly. Overall, 20/20 is the DP CD to shut down the haters. Check it out.

Dilated Peoples – Kindness for Weakness
Dilated Peoples – Back Again
Dilated Peoples – You Can’t Hide, You Can’t Run

Dilated Peoples Official Site, Dilated Peoples on myspace, Buy Dilated Peoples cds

Remembering Bucky Fellini

A few days ago, on one of the message boards I frequent, a poster asked for some skaters from the 80’s to suggest some tracks for an 80’s skate compilation he was making. I went through my memories and listed 5 tapes that were always being played on my half-pipe as a kid. After I posted the list I noticed there was no Dead Milkmen on the list….anywhere. Well, perhaps because it is December and as the Counting Crows suggest, everyone is more nostalgic in December, or maybe because I don’t think I’ve heard it in 10 years. So I fired up my p2p app of choice and promptly downloaded Bucky Fellini for a listen.

The Dead Milkmen will always be remembered; but it will be because of Punk Rock Girl. A blessing and a curse I suppose. However, if you say Dead Milkmen to me almost immediately I will sing “All right…Kill the Muthafucker….Gather round me everybody…..lemme tell you who I am…..cause I’m a Big Time Operator….operating through the land…I’m a big time operator and they call me Howard Sam.” Yes, IMO, Big Time Operator is the greatest Dead Milkmen song ever. Drugs, cussing and a guitar solo sung by Joe…great moments in American music. Bucky Fellini was released in 1987 and I was a dirty little skate rat in the 8th Grade desperately searching for my version of individuality….by riding skateboards and wearing the skater uniform and the skater haircut and listening to the skater soundtrack….naturally. Many hours were logged in my bedroom listening to Bucky Fellini on my boombox.

It’s just such a fun album and to this day I can recite all of the words to Instant Club Hit. So, after spending the afternoon listening to the mp3’s I stopped by my local record store only to find they don’t carry Bucky Fellini, so I settled for the greatest hits collection Death Rides a Pale Cow, rolled down the windows turned up the stereo and…dunanunanunanut ALL RIGHT! dunanunanunanut KILL THE MUTHAFUCKER! dunanunanunanut HAHAHAHAHAHA dunanunanunanut UGHHHHH…

Dead Milkmen – Big Time Operator
Dead Milkmen – Instant Club Hit
Dead Milkmen – Take Me to the Specialist
Dead Milkmen – Going to Graceland

Dead Milkmen Official Site , Dead Milkmen myspace , Buy Dead Milkmen cds.

Sadly, in March of 2004, Dave Blood (bass) committed suicide. In his memory and the Milkmen took the stage for a couple of nights in Philly in his memory. Proceeds were donated to a variety of mental health organizations and to a Serbian monastery that Schulthise supported.

Joe Talcum is currently in Philadelphia punk band The Low Budgets.